Plain English Bill & Mary Peak From The Heart

The PM and his wife spill some home truths.

- Sophie Neville

It’s been a big week for Prime Minister Bill English when Woman’s Day descends on him and his wife Mary on a sunny Saturday morning in Wellington.

Jacinda Ardern has just been made leader of the Labour Party and the upcoming election has suddenly got a whole lot more interesting. But if the veteran politician is feeling rattled, he’s certainly not showing it as he arrives at Premier House direct from the airport after a night away on the campaign trail.

“Where is she?” he asks, eagerly scanning the room for his wife. Fresh from the make-up chair, she’s looking stunning and Bill, who became PM last December after Sir John Key resigned from the top job, is clearly impressed. “Wow!” he whispers, before giving her a warm hug and kiss.

With just a few weeks to go before the September 23 election, Bill certainly wasn’t expecting the last-minute change of leadership in the opposition camp. Not to mention latest polls putting the two parties almost neck and neck. But he insists it hasn’t changed much for him and the National Party.

“Politics is unpredictable, particularly when there’s a lot of pressure on. It was always going to be a tough campaign and a tough election to win. It’s still going to be an election decided on a handful of seats and a few thousand votes. That’s why we have to focus on getting all the support we can.”

Both devout Catholics, Bill and Mary, a GP, have been married for 30 years and are parents to Luke, 29, Thomas, 27, Maria, 26, Rory, 23, Bart, 20, and Xavier, 17. Raising six kids while Bill climbed the ranks of Parliament and Mary built her medical career was no easy feat, but they put their success down to a unified approach.